Fox deletes column on 'darker, gayer, different' Olympics

NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News removed a column from its web site Friday that said it appeared the U.S. Olympic Committee wanted to change the event's motto to "darker, gayer, different."

The column, posted on Wednesday, was written by veteran Fox executive John Moody. He's executive vice president and executive editor of Fox News, but it appears his chief duty now is to write online opinion columns.

A Fox spokeswoman said Moody's column does not reflect the views or values of Fox News. It was posted on Wednesday and removed on Friday. The sports-oriented site Deadspin wrote about its contents on Thursday.

Moody wrote that complaining that every team is not a rainbow of political correctness defeats the purpose of sports, which is competition.

It appeared Moody got the idea from a story that quoted USOC official as being proud to take a diverse U.S. team to the Olympics. It was followed by an "embarrassing laundry list of how many African-Americans, Asians and openly gay athletes are on the team," he wrote.

Moody said that no sport he was aware of awarded points or medals for skin color or sexual orientation. He said it was another thing entirely if someone is denied a spot on a team because of prejudice.